


Scars Show We Heal

by Tricksterbelle



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Coping, Disordered Eating, Emotional Healing, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Therapy, karen is a mama bear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tricksterbelle/pseuds/Tricksterbelle
Summary: Karen notices many good changes in Sarah, and some more concerning ones. A conversation needs to happen.
Relationships: Irene | Karen Williams & Sarah Williams, Irene | Karen Williams/Robert Williams
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	Scars Show We Heal

**Author's Note:**

> CW: This fic treats Jareth's actions during the events of the film like sexual assault. It also deals with the mental trauma and fallout from that. I ultimately aimed for positive, but it goes through some heavy stuff.

Karen was the first to notice. Of course, everyone noticed how Sarah’s behavior made a remarkable change that spring. She became more responsible, mature, understanding, and assertive, but most everyone just thought that was her growing up. But Karen knew the real reason. Sarah had found her a surprisingly supportive confidant to the reasons behind her change, but was still hesitant to tell her all the details. All she knew was there had been a Labyrinth, an owl, Toby was safe, and the occasional footprints on the ceiling were nothing to worry about. Karen let her have her space. The whole story would come out sooner or later

Then she started noticing how Sarah slept less and less. She would always be reading when they came to tell her goodnight, and she would always be awake as they went down for breakfast, even on weekends. At first, Karen thought it was just stress from school. But Sarah’s habits continued into the summer. Late one stormy night around 3 AM, after putting a fussy Toby to bed, Karen heard canned laughter from downstairs. She crept down to peak in the living room and find Sarah curled on the couch, watching _Fawlty Towers_ with a double death grip on the remote and a Redbull. She could have dismissed that, except for the look she saw on Sarah’s face. She had this desperate resolve to stay awake, almost in fear every time she closed her eyes. Karen didn’t say anything that night, quietly going back up to bed, but she resolved to mark it as the first indicator of an unsettling pattern.

Because she wasn’t sleeping at night, Sarah would often pass out mid-afternoon on any convenient surface. Couch, computer desk, lawn, whatever was available. One warm June day, Karen was gardening while her stepdaughter napped on the back-porch loveseat. Not ten minutes passed by when Sarah let out a bloodcurdling shriek and fell completely off the wicker sofa onto the wood patio. She insisted she was fine, and there had just been a wasp buzzing too close, but Karen had heard her distressed groaning and the distinct words ‘Get off me’ before she ever woke up.

Sarah developed a monomaniacal need to know Toby’s location at all times. She went to every play date, every walk around the neighborhood. This proved useful a couple times, as Toby developed a habit of exploring the briars by the driveway as soon as he started walking, but Karen noticed how panicked and desperate Sarah would get, far beyond sisterly concern. As if he could be snatched up by some bird of prey the moment he wasn’t accounted for.

Loud noises and movement in her periphery startled Sarah far more than they used to. A slamming door or a dropped book would cause her to squeak and whirl around, as if she were prepping to fight the noise. One afternoon, Karen was picking Sarah up from the movie theater with her girlfriends. They were all standing in a circle, minding their own business, when this boy sneaked up behind Sarah. Before anyone could warn her, he grabbed her shoulders and yelled, “What’s up, Ladies?” In an instant Sarah whipped around and pushed him hard enough to stumble back a few feet. 

“Do not touch me!” Sarah screamed, then stomped over to the sedan. She was jittery and anxious the whole way home. The kid, whom Karen had only seen on the school football team and never in a willing conversation with Sarah, was clearly being an ass, so she had no reservations telling Sarah so and sending her to her room with some nice bath bombs and ice cream instead of any reprimand. But the outburst became another tick on her mental tally sheet, another drum beat in a rhythm she hoped against hope her stepdaughter wasn’t dancing.

It all came to a head over the food of all things. For the past five months, Sarah had become meticulous about her food, in particular where it came from. She read the labels on every foodstuff in the pantry and fridge, googled manufacturing practices and bottling plants for all the major brands. She got picky about organic produce, untouched by pesticides. She threw out leftovers the day after they were cooked. Fruit with even the slightest blemish would be trashed. She no longer trusted school lunches and poured over her favorite local restaurants, going so far as to talk with the chefs about their supplies. Karen found this peculiar, but was hesitant to add it to the collection of ‘Sarah’s Red Flags’. After all, clean eating was trendy among young people, and what teenage girl didn’t have some food hang-ups thanks to patriarchal society? At the very least, getting Sarah involved in food and meal planning now was only going to help her down the road, so the food issue avoided high alert. Until the Adams’ invited them for dinner. 

Mr. Adams was on the deacon board with Robert and they had become so cordial to each other, his wife insisted the family come over for dinner. Sarah was understandably nervous, but Karen packed some Cliff bars (an Approved brand) in her purse and promised her that she would back her up if she needed to. Luckily, Jeanie Adams was just as passionate about organic food and home gardening as Sarah. Everyone did fine through the salad and the roast chicken and the scalloped potatoes. (Though Karen quietly thought they weren’t quite worth Mrs. Adams’ hype. She saw that Pinterest recipe too.) The adults had some pleasant conversation, and though the children were quieter, no one was unhappy. Then Jeanie brought out a huge fruity-looking cake for dessert. Sarah got about halfway through her piece when she abruptly turned green.

“What’s in this, Ms. Jeanie?” She choked out.

“Why it’s my specialty. Peach and rosemary upside-down cake. How do you li-”

Sarah was already sprinting for the hallway, clutching her hands to her mouth, eyes wide with panic. Karen was already up and following her. She didn’t even go for the hall bathroom. She just burst through the front door and ran across the lawn until she couldn’t hold it any longer, depositing that entire dinner in a nearby bush. Karen rushed to hold Sarah’s hair, making sure not to surprise her. She rubbed her back softly, and the retching became dry heaving, then sobs. Karen fired a quick text to Robert, entrusting him to give an excuse while she and Sarah went home early. She guided her to the car, swiping one of the water bottles they always kept in the trunk. Sarah rinsed out her mouth and splashed more water over her neck and face before slumping into the passenger seat. 

The drive home was quick, the car windows open to keep cool air on Sarah’s face. Karen led her up the driveway but stopped at the front porch swing. They sat down. Sarah was still breathing in deep gulping gasps, slumping on the seat and wiping her nose. Karen squeezed her hand, willing her to meet her gaze. “I told your father to say you had a stomach bug.” Her voice softened. “But that’s not the reason, is it?”

Sarah shook her head, then the whole story came spilling out. Her wish, the Labyrinth, the goblins, their king. She started crying at the peach, and Karen started crying at the junk yard. After the tears started, the rest of the story came in fits and starts as Sarah powered on through sobs. After she talked about rejecting that asshole and being transported back home, Sarah took a deep breath and closed her eyes, indicating she finished. The look on her face showed she expected a form of reprisal, a harsh rejection for her impetuous wish. What actually happened was Karen scooping her in her arms and holding her tight. Sarah started crying all over again, and Karen softly shushed her, promising her she was okay. Inwardly, Karen felt utterly sick. Not at her stepdaughter, who had accomplished amazing things, but the one who violated her consent and terrorized her. 

Fifteen was far too young to experience what she went through. Then again, twenty was too young for Karen to take a drink from someone she once trusted at a party and end up drugged and sleeping on a park bench for her roommates to find. It shouldn’t happen to anybody, but this time it happened to a child. This brave, beautiful child she loved and wanted to protect like her own. And not just by some horny frat boy but this powerful eldritch _being_. No wonder Sarah was terrified. No wonder she kept watch over Toby. Not only was she re-living her trauma, she couldn’t know for certain it was even over.

When Sarah seemed to calm down, Karen spoke. “Firstly, I want to thank you for telling me about the wish. I understand you said something impetuously out of frustration. If you had any doubt, I forgive you, and I’m not mad.” Sarah smiled slightly and hugged her tighter. “But I also want you to know I’m proud of you. That was a very brave thing you did. Never underestimate yourself again, you hear me?” 

Sarah nodded, still reserved. “It’s just… I feel so scared… all the time. I feel like I brought all these nightmares to life, brought them on you and Dad and Toby, and I am so, so sorry.”

“No, no. Enough of that. The only thing you did was speak in anger, and you’ve more than made up for it. How could you even know about the big supernatural consequences? And then you saved my boy anyway. But everything that man did to you? Everything with the peach? That was his decision. Understood? It was not your fault. It’s not fair what happened to you. It’s not fair you had to experience that.”

“But that’s the way it is,” Sarah said, resigned.

“That’s what happened, but it doesn’t have to mar your present, or your future.” Karen brushed an errant lock of hair from Sarah’s face and looked into her eyes. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make you feel safe again. If I have to burn down every peach tree in the county, starting with the one in Jeanie Adams backyard” Sarah laughed at that, and it sounded like frost melting. Karen breathed easier before continuing. “And while I want to make sure you comfortable, I don’t want your world to diminish for fear of meeting it. And one of the ways that helps is talking to someone; a person qualified to help distinguish all those voices in your head and feelings in your heart.”

“You want me to see a shrink?”

“Not to replace these conversations, but add to them, as well as talking with your friends -on both sides of the veil-, going on long walks, whatever heals you. And I promise I’ll find someone who gets it.”

Sarah hugged Karen again. “You’re making a lot of promises tonight, Momma K.”

Karen smiled at her resilient, empathetic stepdaughter. “Well Kid, your worth keeping them for. Now go get some rest. I’ve got to pick up Toby and your dad. We’re probably not going to get invited back, and frankly, I don’t care.” Sarah laughed again as she went inside, and Karen didn’t leave until she saw her bedroom light turn on, then off again. And after she retrieved her boys, she checked in to find Sarah fast asleep.

Within the week, Karen’s promises were being fulfilled. She got iron horseshoes to hang on Sarah’s door and windows. They spent a day painting them with Toby. She also got a sharp iron nail to hide in Sarah’s nightstand, just in case. She signed Sarah up for self-defense classes and they cooked together most of the week. And one day, after a pleasant visit to the flea market, Karen took her to see Dr. Amalthea.

Thea was an old friend of Karen’s, and she was kind, patient, and didn’t commit Sarah at the first mention of the word ‘Goblin’. Or the second through twelfth. And slowly but surely, Sarah opened up to her like a rare orchid. With Karen the first couple sessions, then one on one after that. She was improving beautifully. Though all the symptoms never fully went away, Sarah gained ways of coping and articulating when she needed more care.

There were some bumps in the road. Sarah’s temper, never exactly mild, would laser-focus on few select targets. That fall, rumors went around about what the school running back (the one who scared Sarah) had done to one of her friends after a game. At first period, Sarah talked to the girl. At third period, Sarah launched across a cafeteria table to tackle the boy to the ground and punch him until a teacher pulled her away. Both Karen and Robert sat in the principle’s office that afternoon, failing to muster sympathy for the kid with a fat lip and a shiner sitting across from their daughter. The boy’s parents pushed for expulsion, but Robert lawyered everyone in that room on Sarah’s behalf. He went for the jugular, highlighting how the school chose to punish the girl’s transgressions but not the boy’s. Karen’s favorite line was “If this is how this institution addresses sexual assault, I don’t I trust my daughter at this school anyway!”

That was also the day they told Sarah they were considering moving.

A friend of Robert’s had offered him partnership in his company a couple towns over, and not only was it a good opportunity for their futures, it was a chance for Sarah to change scenery. The house, the school, the park, all reminders of her ordeal she could then consign to memory. However, the first family house-hunting trip, Karen noticed Sarah tense up in the city center, but they both stayed quiet about it until the drive home.

“You seemed nervous back there,” Karen said as they nursed gas station sodas while Robert changed the baby.

“I got a strange feeling walking around. That place is a border town; I’m sure of it. And I don’t mean Canada.”

“Ah” Karen said, understanding the implication. “Will you be ok living there?”

Sarah shrugged. “I think so. The more I looked around, the more I saw people like _me_ , if that makes sense. And I got the impression it would be a good place to live.”

“That’s good to hear. Though maybe I should get another nail for your purse,” joked Karen as Sarah laughed.

And the place was good for Sarah. She fit in at her new school like a glove and was still able to see Dr. Amalthea once a month. There were still footprints on the ceiling. Sarah still read every food label she found, and she still occasionally had sleepless nights, though they would more often be spent with the punching bag in the garage. An iron horseshoe still kept guard over her door, and she was still willing to babysit Toby whenever they needed. But she had the support of her family, her friends, and her allies. Sarah wasn’t alone, and that made her feel safe, which was the important part.


End file.
